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Thursday, 15 August 2013

Tour at 17:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This evening the conditions had improved considerably from this afternoon with the rain having stopped and the wind having calmed down a little bit. First we began with a stop at Engey and were delighted to still find the puffins there as they are set to leave for the summer over the next few days. Then we headed further out towards Marfló, an area that we had been seeing whales at today. After a bit of searching we found our first whale of the tour, a Minke whale! This individual was a bit skittish though and we only saw him a few times from a distance before he dove down and away. We then searched further out and then as we were heading back to Reykjavik after an exhaustive search we almost sailed over another minke! It surfaced very close to us and we got an extremely good view of it as it surfaced right in front of the boat. An awesome ending to the tour!

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Tour at 14:00

Report from Elding: We were lucky to see many Puffins on Engey again this afternoon and it went even better when we sailed out to find some whales. After 40 minutes of sailing we spotted several Minke Whales actively feeding all around the boat. We just stayed there and enjoyed these majestic animals for the whole tour. One Minke decided to surface 1 meter next to the boat and one even showed us its white belly, it was so exciting!!

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 13:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This afternoon the wind was blowing more strongly and the rain was pouring down as we sailed out onto the bay for the second time today. Again we began with a visit to the puffin island of Engey and had a look at the cute and small puffins. Afterwards we began our search for the whales  and headed further out towards the area we had seen the whales this morning. When we got further out conditions were quite bad with lots of rain and wind making spotting difficult. Despite those difficulties the passengers showed great patience and then we finally spotted a Minke whale! This individual was very nice and soon after we got a look at very many others as they started surfacing all around the boat both close to us and far away. An excellent ending to the tour!

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

Tour at 10:00

Report from Elding: We started this morning with Engey, the Puffin Island where we saw many Puffins. We came very close and got an excellent look at the Puffins. Our sister vessel Hafsúlan had informed us that they have spotted 2 Minke Whales so we headed straight in that direction. When we arrived there we saw 2 Minke Whales actively feeding so we just waited and they decided to come very close to our boat so we got some very good looks at these beautiful Minkes. We also saw some Northern Gannets diving which was great to see. Nice start of the day!

-Lisa Hofmann

Tour at 09:00

Report from Hafsúlan: This morning the weather was quite good and we headed out with a light breeze and slight rain. We started the tour with a visit to the puffins at Engey and got a good look at them as they sat in the grass above the rocks on the coastline and flew around us. Then we headed further out towards our main whale watching area. After around thirty to forty minutes of sailing we found our first Minke whale of the day! This individual was a bit elusive though and didn´t seem to want to talk to us.  So on we went and searched a bit further until we found a second minke whale! This one was much more talkative and we got a good look at it as it surfaced around the boat. A good tour with enthusiastic passengers and a fun minke.

-Ívar Elí Sveinsson

 

Birds seen on today's tours: Northern Gannet, Atlantic Puffin, Fulmar, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Manx Sheerwater, Common Guillemots, Black Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Arctic Skua.